Notice that numbers 2 and 3 are verbal phrases. Notice also that those verbs (sitting and to write) are not conjugated. They do not reveal tense, person, number, or mood. Thus, the word chunks they form are phrases, not clauses.

When you look up wish in the dictionary, you find that it has transitive definitions. Thus, wish can take a direct object. You’ve learned in this section that direct objects are nouns. What’s the direct object of wish? The entire clause—that he could be like Mike—enters the sentence, acts as a noun, and serves the role of direct object.